Without Helms and The Congressional Club Reagan probably would have suffered another loss there, for sure. Jesse was never afraid to buck the trend and do the right thing, even if it meant the emnity of fellow Republicans (think Alan Simpson) who were much less inclined toward his viewpoint.

"The destruction of this country can be pinpointed in terms of its beginnings to the time that our political leadership turned to socialism. They didn't call it socialism, of course. It was given deceptive names and adorned with fancy slogans. We heard about New Deals, and Fair Deals and New Frontiers and the Great Society." - From a Helms editorial at WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

RIP, Senator Helms.

My flag here on the Albemarle is at half staff.

228
posted on 07/05/2008 6:40:07 AM PDT
by OBXWanderer
(Now is the time for all good men [and women] to come to the aid of their country.)

“...Helms was an outspoken conservative politician whose attacks against communism, liberal elitism and some of the civil rights legislation made him one of the most controversial and loathed prominent political figures in North Carolina history...”

God bless you Senator Jesse...thank you for your unflinching American Patriotism. My prayers to your family.

231
posted on 07/05/2008 9:43:47 AM PDT
by NFHale
(The Second Amendment - By any means necessary.)

I don’t know where you got your quotes - but I know most of them are from way back in the past of Senator Helms life - most of them from the 1950’s and/or 60’s is my guess...and then I do not know they are his quotations at all. You did not give any linked sources for your listings.

Here’s a better list of what this GREAT MAN accomplished -read and get educated:

“Helms served as chairman of the Agriculture and Foreign Relations committees at times when the GOP held the Senate majority. He used the posts to protect his state’s tobacco growers and other farmers, and placed his stamp on foreign policy with a strident opposition to Communism.

“Under his leadership, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a powerful force for freedom,” said President Bush. “And today, from Central America to Central Europe and beyond, people remember: in the dark days when the forces of tyranny seemed on the rise, Jesse Helms took their side.”

He took a dim view of many arms control treaties, and supported the contras in Nicaragua as well as the right-wing government of El Salvador. He opposed the Panama Canal treaties that then-President Carter pushed through a reluctant Senate in 1977.

As Fidel Castro’s fierce critic, Helms helped create legislation in 1996 to strengthen U.S. restrictions against the Caribbean island’s communist government. The Helms-Burton law bars the United States from normalizing relations with Cuba as long as Castro or his brother Raul  who has been president since February  are involved in the island nation’s government.

In his memoirs, Helms made clear that his opinions on other issues had hardly moderated since he left office. He likened abortion to the Holocaust and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“I will never be silent about the death of those who cannot speak for themselves,” he wrote in “Here’s Where I Stand.”

Back in the ‘80s Helms hired a new press secretary named Claude Allen. Allen was very young, very sharp, conservative and Black. The press hated getting all their prep info from Allen cause it blew the image they were trying to create.

Back when the ERA was still being fought and Helms was criticized as a Schlafly man it was pointed out that Helms had more women in power position (LAs and SAs) in his DC staff than Ted Kennedy. Of course Kennedy was pro ERA even though his idea of the place of women was so well illustrated with the make up of the Chappaquidick party consisting of six single women and six men (five of the six men were married).

Back in the ‘78 campaign Helms was still smoking and offered me a cigarette. He smoked Lucky Strike nonfilters.

The media never gave him credit for a sense of humor but he was funny and could rival Will Rogers who he often quoted.

He was the best Senator of my lifetime without any shadow of a Doubting Thomas.

240
posted on 07/05/2008 8:58:14 PM PDT
by Monterrosa-24
(...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)

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